A 12-YEAR-BOY who was told he can't go to the same school as his brothers and friends has discovered he now has no way to get to his replacement school.

Ryan Banks was told there was no room for him at Verdin High School in Winsford and instead travelled to the County High School, Leftwich.

But he has found out the bus which transported him from Winsford to school will be cancelled after the summer holiday.

His dad, Andy Banks, a sub-officer with Winsford fire brigade, said: 'It's crazy, just one thing after another. Ryan is only going to Leftwich because he can't get into Verdin, but now we don't know how he's going to get into school next year.

'When we started we had to pay £10-a-week for the bus, then they said £20, but the school subsidised it so it cost us £15. But now it's stopping altogether - it's ridiculous.'

The family cannot drive Ryan to school because of work commitments, while the public bus doesn't stop close to the school.

Mr Banks added: 'He's not happy at Leftwich anyway because all his friends are at Verdin, and this is just adding insult to injury.'

Ryan was horrified to learn he couldn't go to Verdin High School despite the fact that his brothers Richard, now 17, Stephen, 16, and Adam, 14, were all pupils and sister Sarah, 19, is a former student.

His old house in Grasmere Close, Winsford, was in Verdin's catchment area, but even though the new family home in Over Hall Drive is just a few hundred yards over the border into Woodford Lodge High School territory, he was denied a place.

'We have appealed twice, but got nowhere,' said Mr Banks. 'The Government talk about choice in education, but what choice are we getting?'

A spokesman for Cheshire LEA said the bus service to Leftwich was a private arrangement between the school and parents.

'Unfortunately, the school was faced with significant rising costs, together with the number of pupils using the service dropping,' she said. 'Regrettably, the decision was made to stop the bus service.'

Winsford MP Stephen O'Brien believes Ryan should have been free to choose which school he attended.

He said: 'Our proposals for a Right to Choose will mean that we will trust teachers in Winsford to set priorities for their pupils free from central targets.

'Good schools will be able to grow to meet the demand of local parents if they wish and parents will be able to choose the school that best suits their child - they will not be told where to send their child by a restrictive system limited by the number of places available or catchment areas. This is the type of choice that parents like Mr and Mrs Banks have been calling for and will welcome.'